Honda Civic Blogger Drive 2013 Experience

Honda Civic Power! This is my first experience at driving Honda
Civic 1.8L SOHC i-VTEC. I teamed up with Ben Ashaari and Farid Laham in this challenge, we take turns to drive from Publika to Desa Park
City then back to Publika. For this round of Honda Blogger Drive 2013, the
focus is on the 9th Generation Honda Civic embraces the concept of “futuristic
and distinctive compact” (Honda Civic 1.8S, 2.0S, 2.0 Navi and Civic Hybrid 1.5L).

Honda Blogger Drive 2013 Group Photo

There were 21 bloggers and 3 in each team, so total we have 7
teams and 7 Honda Civics. We gathered at the Paradiso Cine Lounge, Publika for
registration, briefing by Harvinder Singh and have some light snacks before
flag-off. All set and ready to vrooomm in our Honda Civic ~ Let Your Intuition Take Over.

Each team was given an
iPad to take videos throughout the journey and during the test drive sessions.
At the end of the day each team has to come out with a VLOG.

Rebecca Saw & Vernon Chan

Ready, Get set & ...

Flag Off by Akkbar Danial

The journey from Publika to Desa Parkcity and back to Publika; we drove
passed the winding, narrow and bumpy village roads and revving on the highway
plus stuck in the jam on the way back to Publika.

Even though there were
obstacles throughout the journey but driving in this Honda Civic 1.8L was
pleasure and comfortable. According to Ben Ashaari my teamate, ‘memang syiok and sangat
beza’ driving in this Honda Civic and Honda Civic 2.0s Mugen spec is Farid Laham dream car. The car pick-up rate is good I just have to accelerate a bit it
start to move forward. The i-VTEC SOHC powertrain is capable of unleashing up
to 155PS worth of raw revving power at the same time fuel economical.

ECON Assist helps you drive more efficiently with your Honda
Civic. There is an ambient glow on your instrument panel which coaches you to
be light footed with your accelerator. To know if you are driving efficiently,
the glow turns green. The greener it is the more fuel you are saving.

The moment you are heavy with your accelerator, the glow will
quickly turn blue. This gives you real-time feedback on your driving, whether
you are saving fuel or otherwise. There is also an ECON Mode which reduces
variability of driving. It dampens the effects of the accelerator and the shift
mapping of the transmission as well as optimizes the air-conditioning system
with the aim of increasing fuel efficiency.

In deep concentration when the Honda Test Instructor briefed us the steps

We stopped over at Desa Parkcity for some drift, spin and really
floored the car to the max! Yes I mean it so everyone floored it. There were 3 tracks,
each tracks we get to test the different capabilities of the Honda Civic.

1st track Slalom Test

1st track Slalom Test,I was driving
like a snake and quite a cautious driver so my timing not as good as Vernon (the
fastest). The car maneuver, acceleration and cornering system was tested. The
fastest drivers will win cool prizes.

2nd track VSA Test

2nd track VSA Test, this is like drift test.
Whereby, there was water on the track we were suppose to drive to the max speed
and turn right at the same time the instruction sat next to me will pull the
hand break. In this situation the car will suddenly cornered, oversteered and
swing to the right. We tested 2 round one with VSA and without VSA. When the
VSA is turn on the vehicle is less drama or more stable and under control, when
the VSA is on is this situation I can hear a sound gron gron gron when the VSA
system stabilizing the car.

VSA or Vehicle Stability Assist
is a form of an Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) which ensures full
stability of the Honda Civic. It works along side ABS and a traction control
system. The system has various sensors on the car and the moment the system
detects that the car is going to be unstable (by going into understeer or
oversteer), the system will quickly intervene by carrying out selective braking
in a blink of an eye to bring the car back into its stable form.

When selective braking happens, braking will be carried out on 1
wheel only, out of the 4. Which 1 wheel will be determined by the system and it
depends on the whether the car is understeering or oversteering, towards to the
left or right. When brakes are momentarily applied on 1 wheel, it will create a
pivot point to bring the stability back.

Furthermore, VSA also works together with the Honda Civic's
Electronic Power Steering system (EPS). When the vehicle is going into
instability, EPS will also carry out mild corrective assist in the form of
counter steer during oversteer. During understeer, it prevents the steering
wheel from over-cutting (reducing the turn).

3rd track ABS Test

3rd track ABS Test was just accelerate to
top speed all the way and floored the break to the max at the breaking point. It
works the car breaks in splits second and I can hear the sharp squeaking sound
from inside. It is also as powerful in performance as it is fuel-efficient. Fuhhh!!!
Sort of stress relieve for me.

With ABS or Anti-Lock Braking System, the vehicle
can still steer away from an obstacle while carrying out full braking. On the
other hand, a vehicle without ABS will under steer (or continue moving straight
ahead) while the driver carries out full braking as the brakes are completely
locked. With ABS, braking is done intermittently to enable steering of the
vehicle, away from the obstacle.

After all the 3 tracks test, we drove back to Publika. When we reached Paradiso every team has to come out with the one final VLOG.

Sometimes when we purchase a car that is fully loaded with all the latest technology, innovation and gadget but we did not fully utilize the features or maybe don’t bother to learn or discover all functions especially the safety features that could save our life during emergency. After the VGA, ABS and this test drive, now I can reinforce to myself that safety and fuel economical are my priorities when choosing a car.

Dinner Time

The Winners of the Slalom Test - Fatest Time

Overall, I find that the Honda Civic besides being SMART
it also packed with important SAFETY features. Definitely boost one’s CONFIDENCE
and self esteem when driving in this STYLISH aerodynamic design and stress
free fuel ECONomical car. Honda Blogger Drive 2013 was an eye opener and
awesome experience for me. Many thanks to Honda Malaysia for organizing this Honda Civic Blogger Drive 2013.